Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and cognitive bias: A systematic review and research direction

Corporate Social Responsibility's (CSR) competitive advantage continues to disappear rapidly due to embedded gaps in practice. Thus, managers and scholars are beginning to shift their focus from the business case of CSR toward how firms address weaknesses within CSR practices. This study reveals the prevalence and influence of different cognitive bias types in CSR formulation, implementation, and communication. In this paper, CSR formulation emerged as the domain more predisposed to cognitive biases, followed by CSR implementation and CSR communication with 12, 9, and 5 cognitive bias types, respectively. Based on a systematic review, we provide a conceptual framework that discusses CSR cognitive bias' antecedents, indicator taxonomy, context, and consequences on partnerships. Following that, we identify the major implications for strategy theory and discuss possible future research areas to address.